Frances Hardinge

@franceshardinge.bsky.social

4628 Followers 314 Following

Writer of downright odd children's/YA books. Hobbies include travelling, dressing in period costume and scuba diving. Addicted to volcanoes and trying new things.

A close up of a sunlit sunflower plant with two flowers fully open, one just half open, and a fourth just starting to escape from the bud. Behind is a blue sky and tree foliage.
A book cover appears against a background photo of an old-fashioned castle and a little church. On the cover of the book, the title text is "Traitors' Nest". Below it in smaller text is the tagline "Your Next Move Changes Everything". Under that is the author name, "Frances Hardinge". The cover design is a single magpie feather, tinted purple, quill pointing downwards, over a stylised picture of a castle in black, gold and green, against green flame outlines and a black background. Overlapping with the book cover is a round sticker with the words 'signed copy'. To the right of the book cover is a large National Trust logo and a small Waterstones logo in the bottom corner. To the left of the book cover is a ribbon shape with the words 'Prize Draw' in it. The castle in the background photo is of brown brick and has a rounded tower with battlements on one corner. The church is ochre-coloured with grey-brown roofs, a short tower and diamond-shaped windows.
A video showing the components of a book cover coming together. First, green flames quiver against a black background, then black wood-block style castle fragments revolve around each other, then a black, blue and magenta magpie feather waves gently. Finally they all appear and move together to create a single image, in which a castle surrounded by green flames has a magpie feather at its core. During the animation the following text appears in instalments: "The game-changing new YA historical fantasy from award-winning Frances Hardinge. Your next move changes everything!" At the end of the video, an image of the book appears against a green background. The title is 'Traitors' Nest'. The tagline is "Your next move changes everything", the author name is "Frances Hardinge".
A video in which the different portions of a book cover slowly come together. First green illustrated flames are visible, then black, wood-block style portions of a castle slide into view against a green background, revolving round each other, then a black, magenta and blue magpie waves against the green background. The text that appears in instalments during the animation reads: "The game-changing new YA historical fantasy from award-winning Frances Hardinge. Your next move changes everything." All the animated elements come together to show a stylized castle with the magpie feather at its core against a green background, which is then shown to be the design on the cover of a book. The title reads "Traitors' Nest". Near the bottom the tagline is: "Your next move changes everything" and below this the author name "Frances Hardinge". Under the image of the book are the words: "Coming 27th August 2026"
Image shows a book resting on an expanse of dark earth and emerald-green moss. The book bears the title 'Brian Froud's Green Women' and has the tagline 'With Original Contributions from Extraordinary Women Writers of Fantasy and Myth'. Within a rectangle in the middle of the cover is a closeup picture of a laughing Green Woman with leaves escaping from her open mouth. Her face is weathered, her brows and hair morphing into leaves. Her expression is warm, sly, grotesque, wise, hard to read. Golden outlines of leaves surround the rectangle. Above and below the image of the book are other taglines in gold. "Words and stories of fantasy and myth from acclaimed women writers around the world." "With provocative portraits from the 'grandfather of faerie art' Brian Froud.
Many toy bats are on a table. These include an electronic robot bat, two knitted bat-gargoyles, a cream-and-tan plush mother and baby bat, a black rubber bat-duck with fangs, three Honduran white bats nestling in a felt leaf, a plastic bat, a tiny crocheted bat and ceramic 'three wise bats' (see no evil, hear no evil, squeak no evil).
Authors Frances Hardinge, Elle McNicholl and Bea Fitzgerald stand against a white wall flanked by students from different schools. More students kneel in front of them facing the camera. Front and centre is a table with a large oblong white cake illustrated to look a bit like a book, and four goodie bags, red, yellow, blue and pink. There are red, blue, yellow and green balloons behind the group at the edges of the picture.
A black electronic bat toy positioned on a table faces into the camera. He is mostly made of hardened black plastic with blue details. He has large ears, big eyes made of tiny LEDs and a round LED in his chest. His articulated wings are currently folded in.
A graphic with a turquoise background, with abstract shapes impinging from the sides in dark blue and white. The white letters on the background reads The Carnegies Medal for Writing Longlist 2025 #Carnegies2025 / Carnegies.co.uk. In the middle of the graphic is the front cover of the book 'Island of Whispers' by Frances Hardinge and Emiliy Gravett. The lowest part of the cover shows two boats approaching an ominously silhouetted island crested by a broken tower. One boat is small with white sails and a horse-head figurehead. The other is larger, an intimidating silhouette. The upper part of the cover is midnight blue and is covered by swarms of pale, fluttering moths.
A close-up of the hardback of The Morrigan by Kim Curran, against a brown wooden table. On the cover is a stylised illustration of a woman with long, wild red hair in black armour that descends into a broad A-line skirt with tufty edges that suggest feathers. Great, black wings spread from her shoulders and a distant raven flies above her and to the left. A great moon behind her and twisting plants on either side are picked out in gold foil. She reaches out with her arms as if beckoning or summoning.